"Did your mother tell you that?" Ben asked, while his face did a funny little twist. How disappointing and very, very hurtful, Mrs. Laurence, to teach your son such unbecoming lies. Not that it wasn't very close to the truth, but cult didn't do the relationship justice. There were benefits and drawbacks to the complications of vampirism, just like any other disease or disability. Ben was under no illusions that his own state of being wasn't some sort of negative impact on his life, but he also wasn't disillusioned enough to deny that it certainly gave him opportunities very few would ever have the chance to even try.

He lowered the flowers at the small outburst and didn't even have the decency to look as though he'd said something he shouldn't have. "There's no cult," he insisted, "though I do know what you're talking about. Becca talked about her often, your mother," he added as if to explain.

"Although... this is about that, come to think of it. Wow, this is a terrible first foot forward."